UCLA’s miss on four-star quarterback Brady Edmunds doesn’t look like a reason to sound alarms. If anything, the Bruins seem perfectly content to keep the quarterback room as it is and let the next wave come to them.
Edmunds, who has been committed to Ohio State since December 2024, gave UCLA a real look after his official visit to Westwood in June. The Bruins made a legitimate push, but Ryan Day and the Buckeyes answered his questions about their future quarterback plans and kept him in Columbus.
That leaves UCLA without a quarterback commit in the 2027 class, but the staff doesn’t appear eager to force a solution. Bob Chesney and his group seem comfortable with the roster they’ve built, the flexibility of the transfer portal and what looks like a loaded 2028 quarterback crop.
The current room helps explain that approach. Nico Iamaleava is expected to head to the NFL after this season, but his younger brother, Madden, will have a full year in Dean Kennedy’s offense.
Freshman DJ Bordeaux adds another option, Ty Dieffenbach still has another year of eligibility if he chooses to use it, and Colton Gumino is also in the mix. The staff likes Gumino, and the position is not empty by any stretch.
The bigger picture is already taking shape for 2028, where UCLA has begun its work in what’s expected to be a strong quarterback class.
For now, the Bruins’ 2027 recruiting class still looks solid. UCLA has 23 commitments, which puts it No. 19 nationally and sixth in the Big Ten.
That’s ahead of expectations. Before the class even started to build, a top-25 to top-30 finish felt like a win for Chesney’s first group.
If the Bruins can sign a top-20 class, that would be a major success for the new staff.
Several key commitments, including five-star cornerback JuJu Johnson, have already shut down their recruitments, which gives the class a sturdy base. Still, how the season unfolds could shape the finish.
A fast start this fall could help UCLA land another high-profile target or two before the early signing period. A slow start could have the opposite effect.
It cuts both ways.
In Other News...
UCLAs Costly Portal Gamble Faces Immediate Pressure In Fall Camp
UCLAs roster makeover has been impossible to miss this summer, with the Bruins leaning hard on the transfer portal to rebuild for 2026 and putting major NIL money behind the effort. Forty-two newcomers arrived as part of that reset, and the idea is simple enough: fix the spots that hurt most last season, especially up front on the offensive line and in the pass rush, while giving the staff a deeper, more competitive camp from top to bottom.
Now comes the harder part, because those additions are no longer just names on a transaction log. Jordan Davis, Sahir West and DJ Barksdale are all in the mix for meaningful roles, and fall camp will be the first real test of whether the Bruins got the kind of immediate help they were paying for. For a team trying to turn portal volume into actual progress, the pressure is already on to show that the investment can translate into dependable play when the pads come on. [Read more 🡒]
Bob Chesney Era Opens With UCLA Facing Real National Doubt
Bob Chesney arrives in Westwood with the kind of rsum that can buy a coach some patience, but UCLA is also asking him to do more than rebuild a roster. After a successful run at James Madison that ended with a Sun Belt title and a College Football Playoff appearance, Chesney has remade the Bruins with transfers and freshmen as fall camp opens, bringing a familiar core with him while trying to stitch together a team that looks nothing like the one that finished last season.
The challenge is bigger than just blending new faces. UCLA sits 13th in the Big Ten preseason media poll, a reminder that the outside view of this project is still cautious at best, and Chesneys first roster comes with plenty of moving parts on both sides of the ball. The Bruins have added several players from his James Madison program, including Wayne Knight and Landon Ellis, but the real question now is how quickly all of those pieces can settle in once the contact starts and the depth chart begins to take shape. [Read more 🡒]